These are the ramblings of a self-described wheat, grain and gluten-free “gourmet girl” that loves to cook and eat good food. I love creating and sharing recipes and photographing “beautiful food”. In July 2012, I eliminated wheat, grains and added sugar from my diet and rediscovered real, whole fresh foods again and effortlessly lost 65+ pounds. Join me in my wheat, grain and gluten-free journey. See how easy it is to enjoy grain free gourmet, one meal at a time! Welcome to my blog. Enjoy!

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Tuesday, February 23, 2016

CHEESE HEAD PIZZA - My Take on Fat Head Low Carb Pizza

This evening I took on a challenge to put my take and spin on the classic low carb "Fat Head" pizza crust recipe (fat head as in the Fat Head movie, a comedy by Tom Naughton). Essentially, it's a pizza crust made of predominantly mozzarella cheese, a little bit of cream cheese, almond flour, an egg and some spices. Sounds a bit gross now, doesn't it? Surprisingly though, its not...it's actually good and my version is super good (if I don't mind saying so myself).

Now, I have already created my share of amazing low carb pizza crust recipes, but when given the challenge, I decided to put my GGC spin on this one by cheese-ifying it (is that even a word)? So, I proceeded to bump up the mozzarella by 25%, triple the cream cheese, add Parmesan cheese, bump up the almond flour...and it produced one of the most AMAZING crusts EVER! Pfffffft....this was no "fat head" pizza crust...this was CHEESE HEAD pizza crust! I always say...go big (cheese) or go home!

Since I am the only grain-free, low carb person in the house, the true test is always when one of my "regular eating" family members gives one of my new recipes a "thumbs up". Well, hubby did exactly that...he actually gave it a "2 thumbs up" and said it was one of my BEST pizza crusts EVER. Its a crust that you can pick up and hold with your hands (as are most of my other pizza crust recipes)...but this one is also flexible and foldable in a way that only someone either from or who has lived in New York before would know. My hubby just happened to have lived in New York for over 20 years...so when HE says its a great pizza crust and the best ever, that REALLY means something!!! This crust is filling and even though it's delicious, you will find that you can't keep stuffing your face with it like you can regular pizza. A slice or two will do just fine. My pizza crust recipe made a large 11" x 13" oval pizza that I simply pressed out onto a parchment lined baking sheet with oiled hands until 1/4-inch thick. I topped my pizza with Muir Glen's organic pizza sauce, shredded Sargento mozzarella cheese, Fiorucci uncured pepperoni and some sauteed red bell peppers and onions. It was absolutely amazing! I got 8 nice slices from it. I snapped a few photos below (with my cell phone believe it or not). Enjoy!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet or pizza pan with parchment paper.

Place mozzarella and cream cheese in a medium bowl. Heat cheese in microwave on high for 45 seconds; stir and heat an additional 30 to 45 seconds or until a hot melty mass of cheese is formed.

While cheese is melting in microwave, stir almond flour, Parmesan, salt, garlic powder and Italian seasoning together in a small bowl. Add flour mixture and egg to bowl of hot melted cheese. Working quickly, fold and stir mixture together with a rubber spatula until a ball of dough is formed (make sure cheese mixture is hot before adding flour and egg).

Place ball of dough in center of parchment lined baking sheet. Oil hands with olive oil (*see note/updated instructions below) and press dough out into desired shape (round, oval or rectangular) until about ¼-inch thick. Prick holes all over crust surface with a fork to prevent crust from bubbling up. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown (rotate pan half way through for even browning). Remove crust and top with pizza sauce, additional cheese, and any desired toppings. Bake an additional 5 to 7 minutes or until heated through.

*Note/Update: Rather than oiling hands with olive oil to press dough out, a much easier (and less messy) way to press it out is to pour the tablespoon of olive oil on top of the dough after placing it in the center of baking sheet and use a rubber spatula to press and spread the dough out evenly. If necessary, lightly oil the rubber spatula to keep from sticking.

This looks great! You'll never guess what I saw when I quickly glanced at the title of your recipe ... "head cheese pizza"! Huhhh??? Oh ... CHEESE Head Pizza! :-) Wow! *Double* thumbs-up hubby approval ... that's the Ultimate! (Are you a Green Bay Packers fan, by the way?)

You will have to let me know what you think when you try it. The Italian seasoning I add has oregano and other herbs in it...but you could certainly just add oregano instead or in addition to the other seasoning. :-)

YAY!!! Finally some feedback from someone that has made it already. I'm so happy you enjoyed it...and I can speak from experience that it IS good cold as I had some leftover cold pizza for lunch this afternoon. :-)

I agree with Sylvia - this is fantastic for pizza crust! My all time favorite after Chicago Deep Dish from Unos. We didn't read your reheating suggestion, and used 100% power on the microwave the next day for reheating left overs. The crust was still perfect, not at all chewy.

And its got me thinking: could I use this recipe in other ways? The one that keeps coming to mind is to spread out the prepared dough on the parchment paper, then use a canning lid make largish circles, bake and use the finished circles for breakfast or open faced sandwiches? From having made the pizza crust, I know that its a bit damp, so the extra dough between circles might have to be carefully pulled away [..and rolled into soft bread sticks??]. How important is it to use mozzarella? Would a Mexican cheese blend also work with the cream and parmesan cheeses here?

I'm so glad you enjoyed the pizza crust! I'm sure you could use this recipe in other ways and with other cheese as long as they are similar in texture to shredded mozzarella. I'm sure a Mexican Cheese Blend would be awesome and still work with the cream cheese and Parmesan. You could do some pepper jack as well for some zip.

Now...back to Uno's Pizza......you are in luck because I just happened to have a post for my love of Uno's and my recipe for Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza. You will LOVE it! Here's the link: http://www.gourmetgirlcooks.com/2014/04/chicago-style-deep-dish-skillet-pizza.html

This is the closest I've ever tasted to "real" pizza. The crust is fabulous - you can pick it up to eat, but it's still bendable. I've loved pizza all my life and it is the one thing that I will occasionally cheat and eat. But, this recipe is life changing. It's easy to make and is so good. Anyone who is afraid to try low carb pizza will have their mind blown when they try this! Thanks so much for your fantastic blog!

Hmmm...You could try a couple of different options to replace the almond flour. I haven't tried it myself but I know some others allergic to nuts use sunflower seed flour (finely ground sunflower seeds). Or, you might be able to swap out more finely ground (powdery style) Parmesan cheese. Instead of adding 1/4 cup Parmesan like called for, bump it up to a total of 1 cup. I may test that out myself in the future. If you try it before me, let me know how it turns out. :-)

Best gf pizza ever! Very close to real pizza but tastes much cleaner. The recipe is quite flexible. I just had a 8 oz bag of Mexican cheese and so used about 5 oz for the crust along with the cream cheese, no Parmesan , 1 cup almond flour and egg. I used the remaining 3 oz cheese to sprinkle on top of the pizza but still it tasted awesome. This will be my go- to recipe for pizza henceforth. Very easy to put together as well . Thank u so much for this great recipe. ��

My husband and I made this last night. I was out of almond flour so I used a cup of the Wheat Belly Grain Free Baking Mix instead but followed everything else exactly! My husband and I loved it! I think it is better than regular crust pizza. Even this morning my husband mentioned how good it was again. I was out of parchment paper so we rolled it between freezer wrap with the shiny side facing the dough and some olive oil. I baked one a baking stone and the other on a Silpat baking mat. No problems with sticking! Just delicious!

What did I do wrong? The crust totally stuck to the parchment paper. Couldn't even pull it off. Had to scrape the toppings and whatever portion of the crust came away and eat it as one big unappetizing lump If I try it again, I'd put it on the non stick aluminum foil.

Wow! I've never had anything stick to parchment paper before! There's no chance you accidentally used wax paper or freezer paper is there? I'm assuming not but thought I'd ask. The only thing I could suggest is maybe spritzing your parchment paper with olive oil? Recently I've been placing the ball of warm dough in the center of the parchment on a cookie sheet and pouring a tablespoon of oil on top of the blob of dough and using a rubber spatula to spread it out thin and even (and keep my hands from getting messy). It works like a charm. I am truly puzzled that your crust stuck to parchment!!! Let me know how it turns out next time on the nonstick foil. I think someone actually told me they spread it out on a pizza stone and it didn't stick (which surprised me). Keeping my fingers crossed it works for you next time because it really is a good crust.

I found it really important not to over cook the crust. Take it out when it's golden, not brown, bcease it will cook further when it goes back in the oven with the toppings. The first time I made it I over cooked it and didn't like it that much; the second time I made it I paid much more attention, rotating it at 5 minutes and then checking it again after 12 minutes total baking time. Maybe my oven runs a little hot. Also, once the toppings were added,mi only baked it 2 or 3 minutes more, then a few minutes under the broiler to make everything sizzle and slightly crisp on the top. The only change in ingredients were that I used an additional 1/4 cup of almond flour instead of the powdery Parmesan, which is not something I usually have on hand, and the texture was perfect. Didn't really need that extra cheese at all, imho, already cheesy enough! Just be sure to use tasty seasonings. The tip about pouring the olive oil on top of the dough was a great idea. On a whim I used a tablespoon of roast d garlic olive oil and it gave the crust a wonderful depth of flavor. Oh, and I guess there was one other change, discovered I didn't have any sauce so just added some spices and olive oil to about a cup of strained tomatoes, and it worked perfectly. Think I will freeze the rest of the strained tomatoes in cubes for future such emergencies. All in all a fabulous and super easy recipe! Many thanks!!! Cammie

So happy you enjoyed it. Great tips as well. I bet the roasted garlic is really delicious...it sounds great. I like to run my pizza under the broiler briefly as well to just begin to brown the toppings. You are right, it is very easy to burn any baked good with almond flour and a few minutes can make a big difference between golden and burned. I'm glad you are enjoying putting your own spin on it...that's the best part about cooking; the joy of experimenting to make a recipe perfect for you! Thanks for the tips and suggestions. :-)

Oh, and I know there are many great olive oils ou there, but I use oils from olive oil.com, where they crush the flavors together with the olives, and it is divine! Not to mention organic. Really fabulous stuff, and lucky me the company is in the town where I live! Anyway, for try it out, you won't regret it. And no, I don't work for them! Now, time to warm up last night's pizza: Tom sauce, sliced provolone, sun dried tomato chicken sausage, red onion, broccoli and goat cheese. It was sooo good. It will be an effort not to have pizza every night!

This is a superb pizza base... So good that I took it to work and they loved it and wanted the recipe. To mix the dough.. I have a very quick and easy way..Put kitchen disposable gloves on and work the dough with your hands. It doesn't stick and you can simple peel off the gloves when finished and dispose.I roll out between baking paper, then lift the baking paper and place on tray.This is such a great recipe..thank you so much

Made this for dinner and it was DELICIOUS. I didn't even have enough cheese to put into the crust - I had about half. And it still came out great! Wow, didn't know it was going to be this easy :) Thank you!

Am just curious: Is it possible to substitute the dairy (cheeses like cream cheese and mozzarella) with something else and still allow the crust to hold well? Have you tried this?

I haven't tried substituting anything for the cheese. I have other pizza crusts your could try though that don't have anywhere near as much cheese in the crust. Have you tried any of my other crusts? :-)

I answered you on Facebook and it's probably too late....but 8 oz of shredded cheese is a "weight" measurement instead of "volume" (like water, sugar, flour, etc.). So...8 oz of shredded cheese equals 2 cups shredded cheese. If you buy an 8-ounce bag of shredded mozzarella (Sargento, Kraft, etc.) the package says 8 ounces (weight) but usually written on the front of the bag it will say "2 cups".

This is a wonderful recipe and I have made it at least 5 times. Delicious! I read where it is messy trying to spread out the dough on the parchment paper and one of the tips was to add olive oil to top and then spread with a spatula. Another tip that I use is to use another piece of parchment paper and place on top of your mound of dough and spread to the desired thickness. It works great with no mess!

Welcome to my Blog!

Welcome to my blog! I look forward to sharing my love of food, cooking and photography with you as well as some of my favorite recipes and food finds. Cooking is a passion and I love experimenting in the kitchen. I rarely follow a recipe exactly and usually feel the need to add a "tweak or two" to make it my own. I hope you get an idea or two while you are here. Cooking doesn't have to be complicated and you don't need to be a rocket scientist to be a good cook. There are so many ways to make a quick and delicious meal without having to run through the drive-thru. You can "have it your way" every day AT HOME! Enjoy!

*Note: Effective July 10, 2012, all recipes (except for an occasional one made for others) are completely grain free, wheat free, gluten free with no added sugar and can be found below in the list of recipes under "Wheat/Grain/Gluten Free Recipes". Enjoy!

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